Appearance Description: Werner stands at 6’1 and weighs in at 185 lbs, with broad shoulders and lean muscle. His hands are rough and callused from a life of working on his vehicles, but still manage more nimble work like picking locks. Werner’s right pinkie finger is missing from the first knuckle up, leaving a rounded stump. His skin is a mess of scars and tattoos accumulated over time, most of them faded, but others fresh. While some might consider scars to be attractive, few would consider those that mar Werner’s flesh appealing. Most are non-uniform splashes of rough flesh from burns or road rash, but a few, like the two that dig into his cheek, have been acquired through other means. Werner covered most of the unmarked spots with large and elegant tattoos, none with any deep meaning, though he refrained from inking past his neck, and his feet and hands are free of tattoos as well. A large, colorful mural on his back depicts an old whaling ship under attack by a giant orange squid. His left arm from shoulder to wrist is cloaked in a massive red dragon in a traditional Japanese style. Werner has a few other tattoos of a similar fashion to these two on his other limbs as well.
Name: Werner Coetzee
Nickname: Blitz
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Nationality: American
Role: Driver
Personality: Werner doesn't ever really say much. He’s a very reserved and calm man for the most part, only speaking when needed. Werner isn’t shy, he's simply never has much to say. He is much more content to stand and listen during the conversation, absorbing everything like a sponge. Werner is exceptional at reading emotions since he focuses on others so much, but has a difficult time expressing, and hiding, his own feelings. The driver acts almost solely on emotions rather than logic, though he maintains a stoic face during heists. While he speaks with good grammar, his vocabulary is pretty limited, exhibiting his lack of a proper education. His knowledge rarely extends outside of mechanics, but he displays a very deep understanding of the entire subject.
Despite being a criminal, Werner is a reasonably moral man thanks to his upbringing in the Mormon Church. He doesn't drink, smoke, gamble, or take advantage of women, and tries to do the best by people. Still, he is torn between his legitimate life on the surface as a mechanic and what keeps him afloat, strong-arm robbery. He feels a strong connection to his absent father, an avid motorist, when working either job, and the fact his mother loved watching him work and ride his motorcycle doesn’t help discourage criminal activities. Charlize relished in the fact that her son, while a failure in the school system, worked hard towards his dream as a mechanic, never realizing what it would lead to. Werner’s hypocritical take on life, trying to harm no-one while at the same time robbing banks, probably also stems from his mother, who was both a prostitute and church-goer. It wasn’t really until he met Florenda that he really began questioning his lifestyle, and now that they’re separated, he dwells less and less on it. While the mechanic has been in numerous fist fights, none of them resulted in any fatalities. He’s never shot or killed anyone, but given the option, he is likely to take another’s life to preserve his own; Werner is even more likely to kill to save a friend.
Werner is generally a very trusting and kind man, going out of his way to help others when possible. Those who are very close to him, such as Luke and Florenda, however, have his undying loyalty. He would do anything for those within this circle, even if it meant risking his own life.
Biography: Werner Coetzee never really had much of a chance at a normal life. His mother, Charlize, was a young woman who left her abusive home in search of fame as a showgirl in Las Vegas. The naive girl was quickly seduced by a young man with a passion for cars, who later came to be Werner’s father. The man left Charlize, never knowing she was pregnant, forcing a teenager to bear the full burden of an infant son with no means of an income and no family in Vegas. Without any other option, Werner’s mother resorted to prostitution in order to feed her child, often neglecting her own health for his. Much to Charlize’s disappointment, Werner slid through school with few interests, barely passing his classes. He deeply yearned to know his father’s identity, but was only told that his dad’s hobby was working on vehicles.
Seeking a connection to his absent father, Werner took this to the extreme, revolving his whole world around engines. From a young age, he worked in a ratty mechanic’s shop, absorbing everything he could about the rugged vehicles that came into the garage. When he turned 16, his first action was to purchase a beat-up motorcycle, which he rode constantly with fervent zeal. Werner also frequented the Church of the Latter-Day Saints with his mom from a young age, and the two were accepted graciously into the community. Coetzee dropped out of high school his final year when his mother died of unknown causes, the disease acting very rapidly on her already weakened body. Seeing no future for him in his hometown, he moved to Los Angeles with nothing but his bike and the clothes on his back, similar to his mother. His goals, however, were a little more realistic. With his vast knowledge of vehicles, Werner found a job in a decent mechanic shop within the city run by an older man named Luke. The aged mechanic, witnessing Coetzee’s skills as a driver on race tracks, recognized his unique skill set and offered him a different type of employment in addition to working in his shop. Luke suggested that Werner serve as a getaway driver for criminals on occasion, knowing several men within the criminal network. Luke told Werner that in his youth, he did the same, and saw the same abilities in him. Werner reluctantly took the job, for his mother and the Mormon Church instilled a strong sense of morals in him, but he was desperately hurting for cash. He slowly sank into the criminal world, building a modest reputation for himself.
At 27, Coetzee met a beautiful Italian woman of the same age at the mechanic shop when she took her beat-up car in. Having no vehicle for the night, Werner gave her a ride home and learned her name was Florenda Marino, and, like his mother, she sought fame in Hollywood. The two quickly developed an intimate relationship, with Werner constantly urging Florenda to pursue her dreams, as if to redeem his mother’s failed ones. Despite Werner’s relatively quiet disposition contrasting her boisterous personality, the couple seemed to be made for each other. Unfortunately, after three years, Florenda broke off their relationship, always fearing he was involved in criminal activity. The apartment he owned, while modest, was much nicer than what a mechanic could afford. Some nights, Coetzee would be out until the next morning, though he never reeked of booze as one would expect. She realized just how dangerous he was when he burst into their apartment with a gunshot wound to his shoulder and hastily pried the bullet out, asking her to stitch the open hole. Florenda helped him, then promptly packed her bags and left. The last time he saw the woman, her stomach was looking slightly larger than usual, but he thought nothing of it.
Werner continued his life without Florenda, though with less enthusiasm and ambition. He began questioning his life as a criminal, albeit a fairly tame one, and if it was one he could truly be proud of. Luke, however, was practically a father to him, and constantly encouraged his illegal career, so he stuck with his life as a wheelman. In the back of his mind, though, Coetzee felt he should become something greater than a glorified criminal. He felt a constant desire to get out of the game, just get enough money to get by and leave LA, but some unknown force always kept him. Werner grew tired of working with amateurs, who often returned to his vehicle soaked in blood, if returning at all; luckily, he was approached by a group of professionals seeking a wheelman, and he quickly joined their ranks.
Equipment: Day to day, Werner doesn’t carry much on his person aside from his wallet and keys. If he knows he’ll be needing them, Coetzee will bring along his code grabber, slide hammer, auto jigglers, slim jim, and locksmith set in order to break into a car. When on a job, Werner generally is unarmed, or has a SIG Sauer P250 chambered in .40 S&W in his center console. He chose the sidearm because of its ambidextrous design, since he is left-handed; that, and because the gun has no factory safety, so he can't forget to take it off before shooting.
Relationships: [This will be added once all characters are accepted]
Miscellaneous: -As expected, Werner is quite the automotive enthusiast, owning several expensive cars and motorcycles; he lives a frugal life otherwise to keep fund his hobby.
-He no longer attends church, but still prays in times of crisis.
-Werner is still actively searching for his father, though he doesn’t tell this to anyone.
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